


Fleet Week Might Be Fleeting...But Love Is Not

by tornadoquakes



Category: Free!
Genre: Fleet Week AU, M/M, Multi, Sort of Coffee Shop AU, dancing instead of swimming, fluff!, there will be dancing
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-07-30
Updated: 2014-09-07
Packaged: 2018-02-11 01:23:29
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 4,833
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2047914
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/tornadoquakes/pseuds/tornadoquakes
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>It's Fleet Week in Seattle and downtown is crawling with sailors. Sadly for Haru, none want to come into the cafe where he works. None, that is, until a certain green eyed sailor decides he wants a Latte.</p>
<p>As Fleet Week progresses, Haru and his coworker Nagisa get to know Makoto and his sailor friends. Could a week be enough time for Haru to fall in love with Makoto?</p>
<p>...of course!</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Day One - The First Encounter

Haru looked out the window of the _Iwatobi Café_ longingly, watching as groups of sailors passed by without noticing the small café. For most other food venues in downtown Seattle, Fleet Week was an exceptionally busy time of year.

But not for the _Iwatobi Café_ ; it was too small and it didn’t serve alcohol.

Haru’s life was miserable.

“Cheer up, Haru,” his coworker Nagisa said as he snapped Haru with his wet dish cloth, “We can go out tonight and enjoy the sailors all we want.”

Haru didn’t say anything. Working the morning shift tomorrow meant he wouldn’t be able to join Nagisa and Haru was pretty sad about it. He looked up at the empty café from the coffee machine he was cleaning.

 

This was turning out to be the most depressing Fleet Week ever.

 

 

Just then, the bell on the _Tobi Café_ door tinkled, catching Haru’s attention. Normally at two in the afternoon, their clients were business types who’d worked through the usual lunch hour and were in search of a late afternoon snack. Instead of a suit, in walked a very tall uniform belonging to a sailor, probably Haru’s age. Instantly, Haru’s heart leapt up into his throat. 

Maybe this wasn’t going to be a completely miserable day after all.

The sailor looked around in confusion at the empty café before he caught Haru’s eye. Sparkly, emerald eyes widened as they met Haru’s and the sailor’s cheeks turned deliciously pink. He shoved his hand through his brown, close cut hair and quickly turned away. Contrary to what Haru expected, the sailor didn’t leave but walked to the back of the café and took the table furthest away from Haru’s bar.

Something about the cute, embarrassed sailor was instantly pleasing and Haru looked around quickly to see if Nagisa had noticed him. Luckily, Nagisa was preoccupied with doing the dishes and Haru had a sneaking suspicion that Nagisa hadn’t even heard the door open.

The last thing Haru wanted was Nagisa poaching cute sailors from him. He already did that enough with guys Haru was after when they went out clubbing together.

Quickly, Haru scooped up a menu from the pile next to the coffee machine and shuffled across the café. When he reached the sailor, the kid looked up with a very pink face. He was drumming a beat on the table with his fingers and bouncing his leg up and down under the table.

Haru felt his own cheeks warm up. Unless Haru was mistaken, this sailor was nervous! That was just too precious!

“Here you go,” Haru said quietly as he handed the sailor a menu, “My name is Haru and I’ll be your server today. Can I get you anything to drink?”

“Haru,” mumbled the sailor as he stared up at Haru, as if in a trance. When Haru smiled, the sailor realized what he’d just done and his blush deepened.

“Sorry,” he said with a frown, “I’ll have a latte, please.”

Haru smiled again and put just his fingertips on the table. The sailor looked down at them then back up to Haru’s face. When their eyes met, the sailor couldn’t help but smile the tiniest but sweetest smile Haru had ever seen, the type of smile Haru would never expect to see from a stranger. With his white uniform, pink ears and cheeks, and that smile, this sailor was just about the best thing to happen in this café in quite some time.

“Sure thing,” Haru said, his voice shockingly even considering his racing heart, “I’ll be right back with your drink.”

 

Haru began to make his way back to the bar, but halfway there he couldn’t help but peek back at the sailor. Just as Haru had hoped, the sailor was watching him, his mouth hanging slightly opened, like he’d forgotten about it completely. But when he noticed Haru was looking at him again, the sailor dove for his menu and quickly buried his face in it. Poking out beyond the edge of the menu, his ears turned an even brighter shade of red.

 

Normally, Haru wouldn’t bother with trying to make any cute pictures out of the latte’s foam – even though Haru was better at it, Nagisa was always the one to make little leaves and hearts in people’s drinks. That’s why Nagisa generally got better tips than Haru.

But Haru couldn’t help himself with the sailor.

 

A few minutes later, Haru placed a latte with a foam heart swimming on top right in front of the sailor. As he predicted, the sailor blushed even harder when he looked into the cup. Quickly he looked up to Haru, then back down to the cup, then back up to Haru, like he couldn’t believe that Haru was somehow connected to the cup.

“Have you decided on something to eat?” Haru asked, unable to suppress a smile at the flustered sailor.

“N..N..nothing,” stuttered the sailor, “Th…th..th...anks.”

 

Haru couldn’t help but deflate a little.

 

If the sailor just wanted coffee, he wasn’t going to stick around for very long. Haru’s disappointment must have been noticeable because the sailor quickly began flapping his hands, frantically explaining why he wasn’t getting anything else:

“I’m so sorry! My friends and I just ate a big lunch and they wanted to go to a bar immediately afterwards. None of them wanted coffee so I went by myself.”

“That’s alright, sailor,” Haru said quietly, not quite able to keep the disappointment out of his voice, “No need to apologize. I’ll bring you your check.”

Haru made a hasty retreat and hid behind the coffee machine.

 

“Haru-chan, what are you doing?” Nagisa asked through the window into the kitchen.

“Nothing,” Haru lied, hunkering down even deeper so the sailor couldn’t see him.

Despite his cute and bubbly temperament, Nagisa was hard to fool and it didn’t take long for him to spot the cute sailor, blushing fiercely as he stared down at the heart in his mug.

“Oh no fair!” Nagisa complained, “Why did I have to be on dish duty the one time a sexy sailor decides to come in!?”

Haru glared at him, hoping he’d get the message that the sailor could probably hear them. But as always in such situations, Nagisa didn’t care.

“Let me be his cashier!” Nagisa begged, too loudly, “That would make it even!”

“Absolutely not,” Haru hissed, “Get back to doing dishes!”

Nagisa puffed up his cheeks, like he always did when he was mad, then turned back into the kitchen, grumbling angrily beneath his breath.

 

As it had been fairly obvious that Nagisa and Haru had been talking about the sailor, Haru decided it would be best to wait a few more minutes before going over to the sailor’s table again. Instead, he thoroughly wiped down the counter adjacent to the coffee machine, working very hard on giving the sailor some privacy while still sneaking peeks at him. By now, the sailor had destroyed Haru’s artwork and was quickly sipping down his latte while looking pointedly out the window at the street.

After five minutes, the sailor put his cup down and Haru regretfully decided it was time to bring the sailor’s check. He rang up the latte on the register and brought over the bill.

“There you go, sailor,” Haru said, propping the little black folder up on the table, “I’ll be your cashier when you’re ready.”

Haru hadn’t noticed before, but the sailor was clutching a five dollar bill in his big hand.

“That’s alright, I’m paying cash. Here,” he handed Haru the bill, “Keep the change.”

When Haru reached out to grab the bill, his finger ever so slightly grazed against the sailor’s. Suddenly every nerve in Haru’s body sprang to life and it felt like fire, sweeping through Haru, the heart of that fire right where their skin touched. The sailor inhaled sharply and Haru hoped, begged the universe that the sailor had felt the same thing.

“I have to go,” the sailor cried, springing up from his chair. Haru stepped back, giving the sailor plenty of room.

“Thank you for coming in,” Haru said once the sailor was standing to his full, towering height, “Have a nice afternoon.”

Haru’s boss Goro Sasabe had lecture Haru many times about how he should smile more at customers and usually that was a hard thing for Haru to do. But Haru had no problem smiling at the sailor. Just like before, the sailor couldn’t help a small, super sweet smile back. Haru’s heart melted just a little.

“Thank you,” the sailor said, “I really do need to meet my friends now. Goodbye!”

 

He began to walk by, but couldn't help brushing into Haru’s shoulder by mistake. Now it was Haru’s turn to inhale sharply, his mind instantly racing. This sailor felt like he was made of muscle and Haru wondered what those muscles must look like underneath that uniform. But that contact only lasted a second and when it was over, Haru’s shoulder felt like it was on fire.

 

All too soon, Haru heard the tinkle of the door’s bell and quickly turned around to get one last glimpse of the sailor before he disappeared forever. 

“Come again!” he called out, a little too desperately.

The sailor turned around, smiled a big, dazzling smile, and waved at Haru before finally disappearing among the crowds of sailors outside.

 

“Why didn’t you ask to meet up with him?” Nagisa demanded the second the door was closed, “He was so into you!”

Haru ignored him, turning back to the sailor’s table to bus it.

 

On the table, the sailor had left an old receipt folded between the sugar packets and the napkin holder. Haru picked it up and unfolded it, revealing that it was for the Seattle Aquarium.

Haru could see that. The sailor seemed like the type to enjoy looking at sea otters and octopus in his free time. He was about to crumble the receipt up and toss it in the dirty coffee mug when he noticed the sailor had written something on the back:

 

_Hi Haru. My name is Makoto and you are awfully cute. Thanks for the coffee!_

Haru’s heart thumped wildly against his chest.

How was it possible for one person to be so adorable!?

 

Quickly, Haru darted his eyes out to the street, hoping to find the sailor out there once more. But if he was somewhere nearby, he was one uniform in a sea of white.

‘Too bad’, Haru thought wistfully as he lovingly folded the receipt up and put it in his pant’s pocket, ‘I’ll probably never see him again. But he made my day much better.’

 

That night, Haru did end up going out with Nagisa, hoping against hope that he would bump into the sailor again, but alas it was an unsuccessful night for Haru. Nagisa went home with some dancing queen sailor in red glasses so at least he was successful.

When Haru finally fell asleep in his tiny Capitol Hill studio that night, he dreamt of green eyes.

 

 

 


	2. Day 2 - The Second Encounter

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sailor Makoto is reunited with Haru. Also, enter Rei....Plans are made for Day 3

“Rei has been all over the world!” Nagisa gushed the next morning as they chopped onions and mushrooms for omelets, “Just think about that! He’s seen ANTARCTICA!”

“You already said, Nagisa,” yawned Haru.

“HE’S SEEN PENGUINS!” Nagisa yelled excitedly, “REAL LIVE PENGUINS!”

It was far too early for Nagisa to be this loud, especially since he was supposed to be depleted from his one-night stand. Since they’d both started working at the _Iwatobi Café_ after they graduated from high school, Haru had heard in excruciating detail all about Nagisa’s many sexual conquests. But for once, Haru hadn’t been treated to a very graphic description of Nagisa’s night. Instead, Haru had learned that this Rei guy worked in nuclear, he painted the butterflies from all the exotic places he’d been whenever he got a chance, and most importantly, he thought Nagisa was beautiful.

“Can you believe he said that to me?” Nagisa sighed happily, “Who goes around calling people beautiful? He’s so cute!”

Haru smiled.

It was actually really nice to hear Nagisa gush about a guy and not just the size of the guy’s penis. Haru vaguely remembered what this Rei guy looked like before Nagisa and him vanished from the club together. All Haru could say for sure was that this Rei guy wore glasses and had dark hair.

 

The door bell clinked as someone walked in. Haru’s heart rate instantly spiked as an image of that cute sailor Makoto flashed through his head. But when Haru looked through the window and was sorely disappointed that it was only his boss, Goro Sasabe. 

“Good morning boys!” Sasabe bellowed as he came into the kitchen.

“Morning Sasabe!” laughed Nagisa, “Let me tell you all about this guy I met last night! His name is Rei and he’s so adorable!”

Sasabe raised an eyebrow.

“Oh yeah? Did he happen to be a sailor?” Sasabe asked.

Nagisa gasped in amazement, “How did you know?”

Sasabe laughed, “Because it’s fleet week! Of course he was a sailor! Tell me all about it while we finish up with the breakfast stuff. Haru, you’re up front today.”

Usually Haru would have pouted if he’d have to spend all day up front. The only reason he kept this job was so he could gain experience working in a kitchen so that he might get accepted into the Culinary Institute of America in New York City. But for once, Haru didn’t mind. He could keep a look out for his sailor better up front.

The day drug on and Haru saw no sign of the sailor. There were plenty that walked past the café, but just as yesterday, none came in. Goro Sasabe was a pretty cool boss and when it was slow and there wasn’t anything that needed to be done, just like now, he didn’t mind if Haru drew. From underneath the counter, Haru grabbed his sketchbook and began working on a sketch of the sailor. Already, the details were getting a bit fuzzy but the eyes were crystal clear in Haru’s memory.

When Haru started drawing or something like that, he got pretty absorbed. He was so busy, trying to make the sailor’s green eyes as sparkly as on paper as they were in real life that he didn’t hear the door of the café open.

“Excuse me,” said a voice above Haru, finally catching his attention, “Are you guys still opened?”

Haru looked up and lo and behold, his muse was standing in front of him, all smiles and blushes!

He was here! How was he here? What had taken him so long?

“We are open,” Haru agreed quietly, noticing how hot his own cheeks had suddenly become, “Sit wherever you want.”

The sailor’s smile grew wider as he took a seat at the counter just to the side of the espresso machine. Haru handed him a menu and leaned against the back counter, hoping to block Nagisa’s view from the kitchen. He wanted as much uninterrupted time with the sailor as possible.

Smiling sweetly down at the menu, Makoto studied it carefully, though he couldn’t help his eyes from fluttering up at Haru every so often. When he caught Haru’s eye, he dove straight back down to the menu in embarrassment. But, inevitably, his eyes were drawn back up to Haru’s and the process would begin again. This went on for a few, blissful minutes. Haru pretended he wasn’t affected at all by this cute little routine. But of course he was.

 _He probably already knows exactly what he wants_ , Haru observed to himself, _he just wants to be polite because I gave him a menu_.

Seriously, were all sailors this cute?

 

Makoto finally closed his menu and looked at Haru sheepishly.

“Ready to order?” Haru asked, an amused smile tugging up the corner of his mouth. The sailor nodded.

“Can I have a cappuccino and a mackerel sandwich?”

A _mackerel_ sandwich?

Those words pierced Haru’s very soul.

Did this sailor realize that ordering Haru’s absolute favorite food was the quickest way to seduce Haru?

And a cappuccino? From the pink ears and the goofy grin, Haru guessed he’d ordered that particular drink so that Haru would make foam hearts in it again.

 

The urge to jump over the counter and kiss a customer had never hit Haru so hard before.

 

“Sure,” Haru said breathily. Makoto handed the menu back to Haru and when Haru grabbed it, their index fingers brushed against each other. Upon touching Makoto’s skin, an electric jolt instantly travelled from Haru’s fingertip, up and down his spine, reaching the tips of his toes and through every strand of hair.

Haru locked eyes with the sailor’s. Wonder widened those pretty green eyes of his and Makoto forgot to smile.

In his heart, Haru knew the sailor had felt the same surge from the physical contact, of that Haru was absolutely sure.

He had freckles kissing his nose. His eyelashes were really long. The corners of his eyes were a little crinkly, probably from smiling a lot.

He was perfect.

Haru _wanted_ him.

And Makoto wanted Haru.

Haru could see it in those sparkly emerald eyes.

 

“I’ll be back with your order,” Haru said, his voice cracking. His hand, now grasping the menu, dropped to the counter.

Quickly, he turned around and retreated to the kitchen, where he had to catch his breath for a minute before starting on the greatest mackerel sandwich ever. Nagisa whined that Haru was taking his job away, but Haru was too busy plotting ways to ask the sailor out to pay Nagisa much attention.

As Haru worked, there was also a fair bit of spying through the kitchen window.

Of course.

 

During the seven and a half minutes Haru hid in the kitchen, making Makoto’s sandwich with the greatest care, adding secret ingredients he liked to add to his own mackerel sandwiches, Makoto took out a postcard from his pocket and began writing on it.

Who could the sailor be writing to? Family? A girlfriend? A boyfriend?

Haru tried staring hard at Makoto’s head to find out, but he got too caught up in that smile.

“What’s wrong with you, Haru-chan?” Nagisa asked from his sudsy domain. Half his hair was pulled up in a little bun and he was wearing his dishwashing bandana across his mouth. Once Haru had asked Nagisa why he insisted on wearing that getup whenever he was on dish duty and Nagisa had rattled off some incoherent answer about being a pirate or something like that. Haru hadn’t asked again.

“Nothing’s wrong with me,” Haru said as he put his masterpiece of mackerel on a plate, “what’s wrong with you?”

“I’m in love, obviously!” he called out as Haru made his way to the kitchen’s door, “I want to see Rei-chan again!”

Nagisa falling madly in love with someone one day and obsessing about it the next wasn’t exactly new, but Haru being interested in someone, let alone someone sitting in the café _right at this very moment_ , was.

 _Sorry Nagisa_ , Haru thought as the kitchen door swung shut behind him, _I’m too busy to hear about this Rei-chan_.

 

“Here you go,” Haru said as he put the plate just above the postcard Makoto was writing.

Makoto jumped with surprise, but beamed when he saw it was Haru interrupting him.

“Thank you!” he said happily as he picked up the sandwich.

Haru leaned back against the counter and watched with great pleasure as Makoto took a bite.

The moment the sandwich touched Makoto’s tongue he let out a deep groan of pleasure. He closed his eyes and hung his head back as he slowly chewed his bite. Haru watched his exposed throat as he swallowed, wondering what that skin would feel like against his lips, what other things Haru could do to make Makoto groan like that again. Then, those pretty green eyes were back on Haru.

“This is the best thing I’ve ever tasted.” Makoto sighed happily.

“Thanks.” Haru said, blushing fiercely.

A look of shock came over Makoto.

“Wait, you made this?” he asked, “I thought you were the waiter!”

“I do both. I had to be the one to make your sandwich though. Mackerel is my favorite and Nagisa is a little distracted today to do mackerel justice.”

Makoto leaned back in his chair and smiled warmly at Haru.

“You’re a man of many talents, I see,” he laughed. Haru was confused what he meant, but then the sailor’s eyes darted down to the sketchbook, forgotten right in front of Makoto.

For a split second, Haru didn’t know if he should panic or not. Really, how creepy would it be to go to a café and find the waiter you’d met just once before drawing pictures of you? But Haru could tell that Makoto didn’t think it was creepy; if anything, he looked flattered.

“You’re quite talented,” Makoto said, blushing slightly.

Haru beamed at Makoto. Beaming was not something he normally did.

Makoto took another bite of his sandwich, not taking his eyes off Haru.

“Who were you writing to?” Haru asked when Makoto had swallowed his bite. He had to say something lest he fall too far into throat fantasies in public.

“My younger brother and sister,” Makoto said, “They’re twins and they just started middle school. The worst part of being a sailor is not seeing them very often. I write home as much as I can and they just love getting post cards. I miss them a lot.”

The image of Makoto and two adoring, younger siblings made him even more precious.

 

Suddenly, the door opened again and Haru reluctantly tore his gaze away from Makoto to see who had the audacity to interrupt them.

Another sailor, one wearing glasses and looking suspiciously familiar walked in. He was blushing fiercely and looked like he was two seconds from running away.

“Does someone named Nagisa work here?” he sputtered.

Yup. This was Rei.

“Nagisa, you have a visitor,” Haru called through the window into the kitchen. Five seconds later, Nagisa swung the kitchen door open violently and jumped out into the café. With his dishwashing bandana, Nagisa really did look like a pirate.

“I knew you’d come by!” Nagisa cried happily as he ran over and gave the dumbfounded Rei a bone-crushing hug, “I’m so happy!”

Dumb-founded he might be, but Haru could tell how pleased he was by Nagisa’s reaction to him. The way he looked down at Nagisa’s head and wrapped his arms around him wasn’t the usual behavior of a one-night stand. For once, Haru actually was kind of happy, not annoyed, that something had happened in Nagisa’s love life.

“Haru-chan, look! I told you he’d come! This is Rei!” Nagisa laughed as he twirled Rei around to face Haru, peeling off his ridiculous dishwashing mask in the process. When Nagisa saw Makoto, his smile suddenly dropped.

“Who’s this?” he demanded. Nagisa’s night with Rei seemed to have obliterated his memory of Makoto.

“It’s nice to see you again, Rei,” Haru said, “Nagisa, this is Makoto. He’s our customer.”

Out of the corner of his eye, Haru saw Makoto tense up at the mention of his name and it took Haru a second to figure out why.

_Crap!_

Makoto hadn’t actually introduced himself to Haru yet apart from the paper napkin! Makoto’s eyes darted to Haru for a split second. He was bright red, embarrassed probably that his napkin had been found.

Turning back to Nagisa, Makoto mumbled ‘hi’.

Nagisa’s eyes became wide and he cast Haru a sly look.

Oh no.

Haru knew that glint in Nagisa’s eye.

“Oh Haru!” Nagisa gushed, “This is the sailor you went on and on and _on_ about yesterday? He’s so cute! It’s nice to meet you cute sailor, customer Mako-chan!”

Makoto looked like he wanted to sink into the ground and die. Unfortunately, his reaction only encouraged devil-child Nagisa. Stupid Nagisa, Haru never went on and on about anything.

“Why don’t we all go out tonight?” Nagisa continued, undeterred by Haru’s glare, “I know Haru-chan would _love_ to see you some more!”

Haru was going to have to kill Nagisa. That was a fact.

“I can’t tonight,” Makoto said awkwardly, “I already have plans.”

That was disappointing.

 

Haru grabbed a rag and began scrubbing the counter fiercely, trying to not be overcome. Of course the sailor had plans; him and his friends were only let loose on shore for a week. Then they’d be gone. They had to seize every opportunity.

This whole thing was stupid. Haru wished Makoto hadn’t come into the café at all.

“Oh that’s too bad,” Nagisa pouted. Haru was glad he couldn’t see him.

“Tonight I’m busy,” Makoto amended quickly, “But tomorrow night my friends and I are going out dancing. It would be great to have you all come with us.”

Haru stopped scrubbing the counter.

“Dancing!” Rei piped up, “I love dancing! Nagisa, I’m a beautiful dancer!”

“I bet not as good as Haru-chan,” Nagisa laughed, causing the tips of Haru’s ears to burn, “Haru is the best dancer I’ve ever seen though he hates dancing in front of most people. What do you say, Haru-chan? Shall we go dancing with Mako-chan and his sexy sailor friends?”

Haru turned to the side so he was facing Nagisa’s over-excited, stupid face.

“Nagisa, I never said they were sexy,” laughed Makoto.

“Well, if they’re anything like you, I’m sure they’re very sexy!” Nagisa argued, winking at Makoto to emphasize his point.

Behind Haru, Makoto laughed.

“What do you say, Haru?” Nagisa asked overly sweetly, “Should we all go dancing with Makoto tomorrow night?”

Haru stared angrily at Nagisa. Of all Nagisa’s annoying habits, trying to butt into Haru’s personal life was the worst. Usually, he just made a huge mess of things and embarrassed Haru beyond all reason.

 

“It would be really nice to go dancing with you, Haru.” Makoto said quietly.

 

Haru turned toward the fiercely blushing, sweetly smiling sailor. The look on his face made Haru forget all about his annoyance with Nagisa. He looked just so full of _hope_.

He turned Haru’s insides into soup.

“Okay,” Haru agreed. Makoto looked like he’d just won the lottery.

“Great!” he yelped cheerfully, standing up from his stool, “Kisumi, Rin, Souskue, and Gou are really great! Would you be interested in getting dinner with us first?”

“Okay.” Haru answered.

Makoto’s smile grew wider.

“Don’t forget about us!” Nagisa whined, he was wrapped around Rei’s waist, “Rei and I are coming too!”

“Of course, of course!” Makoto agreed, all blushy and excited, “So we need a table for eight? Know anywhere good?”

He turned to Haru again, like he wanted nothing more in the world than hear Haru’s restaurant recommendation. Haru furiously went through his mental list of good restaurants.

“Actually,” Rei interrupted, “Would it be alright if I brought three of my friends too? Momo, Seijuro, and Aiichiro would really like to come too.”

Makoto smiled warmly at Rei,“So eleven. What ship are you all on? We’re on the USS Essex.”

“We’re on the USS Howard,” Rei answered, “Nuclear division.”

Makoto nodded appreciatively.

“So are we! How funny! Nice to meet some fellow nukeys!”

Rei looked at Makoto approvingly. Hopefully tomorrow night they wouldn’t just talk shop.

 

Makoto grabbed his wallet out of his back pocket and took out a crisp twenty.

“This is for the best sandwich I’ve ever tasted in my entire life,” Makoto said happily as he handed the bill to Haru, “Where should we eat tomorrow night?”

Suddenly every eye was on Haru.

“Um, we could get pizza at Serious Pie,” suggested Haru, “It’s not too far from here, on Virginia Street, near 4th Ave.”

Makoto nodded, oblivious to the deliciousness he was going to experience tomorrow night.

“Serious Pie it is! I’ll call and make sure to reserve a table for eleven.”

“Okay.” Haru said.

“Let’s meet there at seven?”

“Okay.” Haru said.

“See you tomorrow night then?”

“Okay.” Haru said.

“I look forward to it.”

Haru took in a deep breath and gave Makoto a smile that was unusually bright for Haru.

“Me too.” Haru agreed.

Makoto’s smile was sweet and warm; like hot fudge drizzling down every side of his body.

“Bye for now then, Haru.” Makoto said quietly.

“Bye for now, Makoto.”

 

 

Two hours later, Haru was finishing closing up the store alone. Shortly after Makoto left, Nagisa had disappeared with Rei, leaving Haru to finish closing for the day by himself. That was alright though; he’d been floating on a cloud all night and time had flown by. As Haru was locking the front door on his way out, he realized he’d never made Makoto that cappuccino.

Guess Haru owed Makoto coffee.

Haru smiled to himself, hoping he’d get the opportunity to give Makoto that cappuccino soon.


End file.
